Outdoor Porchetta Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What cut of meat is porchetta made from? ›

Though you can make porchetta from a single cut of boned pork belly or shoulder, a combination of fatty belly and lean, tender loin – with the skin left on the belly for maximum crisp – offers the best of both worlds. You'll probably need to go to a butcher to make sure you get pieces of the right shape.

Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Place fat-side up on a wire rack in a roasting pan. Roast for one hour, until the fat is crisp. Reduce heat down to 325º F (160°C) and cook until the internal temperature reaches 168° F (75°C), about 60 to 80 minutes longer; test in several spots to be sure of your measurement.

In the Upper Midwest, porchetta, more often spelled "porketta", was also introduced by Italian immigrants to the iron ranges of Minnesota and Michigan. Porketta remains a popular local dish in towns such as Hibbing, Minnesota, with distributors such as Fraboni Sausage.

The skin wasn't dry enough. Make sure to pat the pork completely dry before rubbing in the salt and oil as excess moisture will stop it from crisping up. It's important to score the skin if you want it really crisp. You'll need a sharp knife for this, or ask your butcher to do it for you.

Both names sound similar, but pancetta (another Italian delight) derives from cured pork belly, whereas porchetta comes from pork roast!

Eating raw or undercooked pork is not a good idea. The meat can harbor parasites, like roundworms or tapeworms. These can cause foodborne illnesses like trichinosis or taeniasis. While rare, trichinosis can lead to serious complications that are sometimes fatal.

How much porchetta to serve per person? Most of the time you'll want to buy ½ pound of uncooked meat per person. But once you start eating pork belly it's incredibly hard to stop, which is why we plan on 1 pound per person. Also, leftovers are excellent in sandwiches so it's wise to plan on making extra!

The beauty of porchetta lies in its contrasting textures: juicy tender meat, pale pink and fragrant from the herbs, and a buttery layer of fat nestled under a bubbly crackly skin which–when done right–remains perfectly crispy days after exiting the oven.

One of the best ways to eat porchetta, and what we Romans love in any type of weather, is as a sandwich with no other ingredients than bread and meat: the famous panino con la porchetta… The simpler the better! The bread should be strictly homemade to perfectly absorb the fat and seasoning.

Do you cook porchetta on high heat first or last? ›

We prefer to start the cooking at a low temperature so the meat stays succulent, then drain off the pan juices and deglaze the pan with a little wine before giving the meat a final blast of heat.

The heat at which you cook pork cracklins can also cause them to become hard. If the temperature is not high enough, the skin won't crack properly, resulting in a rubbery texture. Make sure to cook pork skin in oil that has a smoke point of 400 degrees.

Traditional Italian style porchetta - the traditional roast that Italians eat at Christmas. This is boned free range Tamworth pork loin and belly, stuffed with garlic, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, fennel and lemon rolled into an easy to carve shape with delicious crackling.

Cuts for Traditional Porchetta: Belly and Loin

Traditional porchetta is made by butchering a hog such that the boned out loin is still attached to the boned out belly.

Porchetta Substitutes:

A full pork loin butterflied and rolled with the same porchetta seasonings is excellent as well and definitely easier to make.

Ham v. Porchetta: Ham is a cooked haunch. Usually made on Easter Sunday, followed by bean soup later in the week. Porchetta is a full, roasted pig that has been stuffed with fennel and garlic, and is eaten at Italian festivals and gatherings.

Porchetta, an extra lean oven roasted ham, is prepared with carefully selected boneless pork loin and is enhanced with special spices, rolled in pepper, slowly roasted and gently wrapped to preserve its authentic flavour. Enjoy this treat in panini or on appetizer trays. Find this product in the bulk deli counter.